DCHS / 1-18 / 1-19

Well I had the great pleasure of being able to vist DCHS on both this last Saturdy and Sunday :-) There were lots of people enjoying the place in the very pleasant weather conditions. A long time DCHS friend who has posted here a few times ( Nevada Naturist ) and his girlfriend flew into So Cal on Friday and also went to DCHS on both days. Another good friend Andrew came up from the LA area to visit the springs on Saturday. I had alot of nice chats with various visitors and other familiar regulars. There were lots of people there on both days, Sunday having the most, more than I have ever seen at this time of winter. All could be seen to be having a great time and I experienced no signs of any problems between visitors. Nice to have such an agreeable crowd :-) I didn't see anyone use the rope and raft recently put up by someone who posted here at the forum. The weather was nice and warm and the creek was easily waded so I think this is why people didn't bother using the raft system. If you wade across the creek from a spot just downstream from the rope on the beach side, then angle across the rocks sticking up in the creek and over to near the Crab Cooker, the depth was knee level on me. Some people crossed on the rock crossing just upstream from the Arizona Pool but I opted not to since I figured I'd rather just get my legs briefly cold in wading than taking the chance of slipping on the rocks :-) All the main pools were filled most of the time on both days. It looked to me like the hot water sources had some increased flow levels from the two recent earthquakes that were fairly close to the DCHS area ( epicenters being San Bernardino and the other maybe 5 miles aprox to the east of DCHS ). I've noticed over the years that local quakes shake up the faults where the hot water comes from and help increase the hotwater flows for a time. It sure was a fine weekend at the springs :-) Looks like the weather is heading back to cooler more normal conditions by next weekend with precipitation in the form of rain or possibly even snow in the forecast for the high desert area ( where DCHS is ). Well it sure was great weather while it lasted! I added 15 new photos to my Flickr photo site, six were taken in September on a hike my family and I did to Deep Creek. Seven pics were taken in early December when I visited Morro Bay to do some kayaking on the bay with a longtime DCHS friend who lives in Los Osos. The last two photos were taken yesterday at DCHS, one showing the Arizona Pool jamb packed with people :-) To see the photos go to:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/35054303@N00/?saved=1